Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

[Mack43432]

G'day fellow boaties

I have a Mercury 50Hp Outboard which is rough to tilt to the left and right. I bought it from someone who left it on a paddock for some time. I have sprayed some WD40/RP7 in there and it freed up abit but not enough. Is it a big job to fix it up ? Im thinking of pulling it apart and having a go.

And the steering cable needs replacing. It is just the basic setup which wraps around the back of the steering wheel 6 or 8 times and through the pulleys to the engine. Can I use cabling from the hardware store or do I have to buy it from a marine shop ? It looks like galvanised clothesline wire coated in rubber. Any tips for installing it ?

Thanks

Mack

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

Look on the side of the mid section where the swivel tube is located. Most engines have at least one grease fitting, usually not a zerk but you can put a grease gun to it. Merc lube has a little pressure pump fitting that attaches to a tube of their marine lube and pumps it right up. But if you don't have the right tools, a grease gun with blue grease (ww sells it as trailer wheel bearing grease in little 4oz. I think tubes with a little grease gun and you can use this for greasing other things that have zerks).

After greasing rotate the engine back and forth until it frees up.

Some engines also have a friction screw that sets the pressure applied to the tube. These are usually (in my experience) the lower hp engines where tiller steering is normally applied and it keeps the engine from swinging to the side when you take your hand off the tiller. Screw it in (cw) for more friction, out for the reverse.

I'd pump grease in either until it resists accepting more or you see it coming out where the swivel tube ends mate to the engine.

On the cables, plastic coated clothes line looks similar but the cable part is not as large and I'd go for the safety of the marine cable. If you had an engine half the size of your current one then clothes line might work.

HTH,

Mark

 

[Mack43432]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

G'day Texasmark

I found the grease fitting and pumped new grease in and the old slop came out the bottom of the swivel tube.

At the bottom of the swivel tube new grease is pumping out around 3/4's of the base, not all the way around and no grease is coming out the top of the tube at all. Is this normal ?

It freed up alot but still has some to go. I use to have someone holding the boat white i turned the engine, since changing the grease I can now turn it myself but its still too tight. I checked for a friction screw but I dont think I have one.

Any other ideas ?

Mack

 

[oldman570]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

Mark; You might trying to put a little up pressure on the skeg of the motor inorder to lift it, and take the downward weight off the top of the swivel tube, and see if you can get grease to exit the top end. If your motor is an older one, it might have a plate at the top of the swivel tube that acts as the friction screw and should be adjustable. Don't know if this helps any as I realy need to know what year the motor is inorder to tell more.

Hope this helps, Oldman570

 

[Mack43432]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

G'day Oldman

I balanced the leg on a plank of wood to ease the pressure off the swivel tube and now i've got grease coming all the way around at the bottom still none out the top. It did help. It loosened up a little more with some more turning of the engine and more dirty grease came out, but its still too tight to put the steering cable on.

As for the engine its an older 50HP Merc 2-Stroke 4 cyl i think it's 500 or 50D on the cowling.

Serial Number 8011049 A or 80t1049 A. I've checked the sticky on what year is my merc with no success.

Thanks

Mack

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

Hi Mack. Welcome aboard. I replaced my cable with 3/16 inch vinyl coated galvanized wire rope from Home Depot. Don't know if you have them in Australia, but hardware stores probably have it. I took a small piece of the old cable with me to match up. Some where here are some guidelines to replace the cable. I'll look around and post a link if I find it.

It's spring time there. You need to get on the water.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

Mack - here are two links in iboats for re-rigging the cables

This one is if the cables run down one side http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=200994

This one is if the cables run on each side http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=281025&highlight=cable+pulley+steering

When I did mine I had 2 sticky parts. First, keeping the cable wrapped around the drum. I finally used a lot of duct tape to hold it until I got the cables tensioned. Second was tensioning the cable. I used a tie-down strap between the two springs and tightened until the springs were just compressed. After I routed the cables and took out all the slack and had everything tight, I released the tie-downs and the cables had perfect tension.

I taped the old and new cable end to end and gently pulled the new cable from the drum to the stern. Hope this helps.

 

[Mack43432]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

G'day Texasmark and Oldman570

Engine swings freely now. I have loosened her up really nice. Thank you for your help guys !

And GA_Boater

I had a read and is just what i needed to know to do it confidently.

Thanks for the links.

Mack

 

[oldman570]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

Mark I belive your motor is a module 500 4 cycl. made somewhere around 1984 or 85. Most all parts can be found for the motor yet here on Iboats or check with Seaway Marine or Old Mercs if parts cannot be found here. Seaway is where I found a match for your sn#8011049 with exploided views of parts and part #'s.
Have Fun and Be Safe Boating,

Oldman570

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Merc 50Hp O/Board steering rough

G'day Texasmark and Oldman570

Engine swings freely now. I have loosened her up really nice. Thank you for your help guys !

And GA_Boater

I had a read and is just what i needed to know to do it confidently.

Thanks for the links.

Mack

Glad you were successful and thanks for the feedback.